I cover money and biz in the entertainment industry here at Forbes. I am also assistant online editor for Forbes's Business channel, which covers topics from economics and Wall Street to health care and Washington. I graduated from U.C. Davis with B.A.s in English, Economics, and a minor in Textiles & Clothing. Previous stints at The New Yorker, Morgan Stanley and Vogue. Way before that, I worked as a showroom assistant at The Row, where I wore too much leather and black. My writing has appeared in Los Angeles Magazine, Performer Magazine and NewYorker.com. Email me at vle@forbes.com.

Forbes 30 Under 30: Food & Drink

Ask anyone familiar with the U.S. culinary scene and they will attest: Our land is handsomely peppered with some of the nation’s best and most burgeoning talents. This made picking the 30 movers and shakers in the food and drink industry a challenging process, but it wouldn’t have been an honorable list without the help of our esteemed panel of judges:

Lee Schrager, who runs the South Beach and New York Wine & Food festivals (and also is a top executive at Southern Wine and Spirits, a dominant national wholesaler).

We received the most nominations in the food and drink category this year. A few hundred names came in via an online form and through our networks of esteemed insiders. Then, a list of 90 or so semi-finalists was compiled. From there, our team of judges and FORBES Editor Randall Lane (a certified sommelier and former Chief Restaurant Critic at Time Out NY) all sat down inside a conference room and engaged in an extensive debate over each candidate.

Our selected group of of twenty-somethings – from restaurateurs and sommeliers to entrepreneurs and small-batch food artisans – is creating a food and drink scene that’s bursting at the seams with flavor and verve. Amid America’s craft beer explosion, FORBES reckons that Meg Gill, 28, is the youngest female brewery owner in the country. Her Los Angeles-based Golden Road Brewing is one of the fastest-growing; it produced 15,000 barrels last year and expects to double that output this year. Revenues exceeded $10 million in 2013, and Gill plans to expand her dozen-plus offerings outside her southern California base in 2014.

Our team also made a true effort to balance different areas of the field: Emily Doubilet and Jessica Holsey are co-founders of Susty Party, a growing Brooklyn-based company that makes eco-friendly, compostable tableware while partnering with Clovernook Center to build employment opportunities for the blind. Adam Lowy’s Move For Hunger is the first and only non-profit that works with the relocation industry to support local food banks. To date, the company has moved over 2.4 million pounds of food in the U.S. (that’s enough to feed 2 million).

In the wine group, Carlton McCoy truly impressed us all. The Culinary Arts Program (C-CAP) alum recently debuted a new wine tasting program in The Little Nell’s cellar, allowing hotel guests a casual apres ski tasting with a sommelier. McCoy is the second African American and one of 133 top wine professionals to have earned the title of Master Sommelier in the nation.

If this is just a taste of what America’s insatiable talents will bring in the future, I’m on board. Click here to see full coverage of the list.

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